Chapter 455: A Major Crisis!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 455: A Major Crisis!
Outside the meeting room, Liya took a deep breath. Her ample chest heaved with the motion as she slowly exhaled the anxieties weighing on her heart.
She was still a bit nervous.
While this meeting might not be the most pivotal in the grand scheme of things, it was her first major gathering of various factions where she would act as the official representative of the Church in her capacity as the Saintess.
The first time was always difficult and painful—Liya had learned that lesson well enough by now.
Originally, her mentor was supposed to accompany her. However, for reasons unknown, the woman had simply left a note yesterday saying, "I'm going on a trip," and vanished from the Holy City.
It was sudden, but Liya hadn't tried to stop her.
She knew her teacher had been shackled to the position of Saintess for twenty long years. It was time for her to let go of everything and pursue what she truly desired.
Moreover...
Liya’s eyes dimmed as she recalled the classified files regarding the previous Saintesses she had accessed through her new authority.
Her teacher was likely...
"No, now is not the time for that."
The clock on the wall was seconds away from the start of the meeting. Liya shook her head, clearing the cluttered thoughts from her mind.
She focused, mentally reviewing the intelligence she had read earlier.
It was about the representatives attending the meeting.
As the front line of humanity's struggle against the Evil Gods, these people spent their lives in the company of madness and distortion. They were inherently powerful or ferocious individuals, and almost all of them possessed personality flaws or eccentricities.
For instance, General Baror of Zero Organization.
Or the cold-faced Sid of the Iron Casters.
Liya could already imagine the oppressive, terrifying atmosphere of a room filled with such people.
But she couldn't back down.
Go for it, Liya! Just imagine Muen is watching you!
Steeling her resolve once more, Liya gave herself a small pep talk and solemnly pushed open the heavy doors to the meeting room.
"Everyone, I apologize for keeping you wait—"
As the doors swung wide, Liya did not find a scene of somber, deathly silence.
Her polite greeting died in her throat. Her gaze swept quickly across the faces of these "ruthless" figures—men and women of terrifying reputation—who currently wore expressions of utter bewilderment.
And then...
Just as Stand users are naturally drawn to one another, a "green tea" sprouting in the warm spring air will always attract another swaying little "green tea."
Liya’s eyes instantly locked onto a living masterpiece: The Great Acting Sword Bearer of the Silence Bureau and Her Beloved Pretty Boy.
Anna was sitting atop her beloved Muen, shifting her hips provocatively. Her seductive gaze flickered over, meeting Liya's eyes.
What... is going on?
In an instant, a bizarre sensation of being cuckolded right to her face surged in Liya’s heart.
"Oh my, you've finally arrived."
Anna sat atop her human cushion with effortless grace, resting her cheek on her hand with a languid expression.
"If Her Highness didn't show up soon, I was afraid I’d fall asleep right here. Isn't that right, Junior~?"
"Heh... heheh."
Muen, acting as the human cushion, stared back with dead-fish eyes, trying to signal his helplessness to Liya. However, that helplessness quickly morphed into an expression that was either agony or ecstasy as Anna gave her beautiful rear another subtle wiggle.
"...My apologies. I am late. Please excuse my lack of decorum."
Seeing this, Liya’s small fists clenched tight inside her sleeves. Nevertheless, she maintained a picture-perfect, gentle smile directed at Senior Sister Anna—though the lines of that smile seemed to have deepened significantly.
"Are... are you alright, Your Highness?"
Lin leaned in and whispered with concern.
Though she still couldn't tell who was NTR-ing whom, she knew the Saintess had to be suffering right now.
"I'm fine."
Liya quickly composed herself. After all, this wasn't her first time; she had witnessed scenes ten times more erotic than this just last night. This was nothing.
However... she couldn't let this provocation slide.
"Miss... Anna."
In a formal setting, Liya used a more official form of address.
"Since Mr. Muen is here to participate in the meeting, wouldn't it be better for him to have a proper seat? Surely the Church isn't so destitute that we lack a single extra chair."
"It's quite alright, Saintess. Junior actually loves it this way," Anna replied with a light giggle, covering her mouth. "Besides, we wouldn't want to break the rules."
"...Rules are made by people. This is a serious meeting; behaving like this is... inappropriate," Liya said, gritting her teeth inwardly.
"Oh, Your Highness, I know you are so pure that you can't bear to look at such things."
Anna’s smile was radiant, and she placed a heavy, deliberate emphasis on the word "pure."
"But the Junior and I share true love. And true love transcends all things. Right, Junior?"
"...Right."
Muen, who had been staring into the void with dead eyes to avoid the drama, didn't want to get involved. But with his "life-line" currently in Anna's hands, he had no choice but to answer.
"..."
Liya’s fists clenched even tighter.
She's so infuriating! I can't out-talk her.
And Muen was clearly being coerced by this wicked woman. What was she supposed to do?
"Ahem."
Fortunately, amidst the stalemate, the most senior member present, Dodge, let out a dry cough. He stepped in to play peacemaker with the grin of a man enjoying the show.
"We all know the Saintess is pure and flawless and dislikes such displays. But for now, shouldn't the most important thing be to get the meeting underway?"
He looked at Anna. "Miss Anna, how about you take a step back? This is a meeting, after all."
"He's right..."
"Makes sense..."
"Her Highness is so pure; it really isn't right to do this in front of her."
The others, who had been forced to swallow a mouthful of sour, stinking "dog food" romance, all chimed in.
"Very well."
Anna sighed with feigned helplessness, casting a mocking glance at Liya.
"For the sake of our so very pu-re Saintess, I'll yield for now. It wouldn't do to defile Her Highness's eyes."
"..."
Liya kept smiling.
But if anyone had looked closely at that smile, they would have noticed a faint, rosy flush creeping up her cheeks.
Between the repeated praises of her "purity" from the crowd and Anna’s use of the same word with the exact opposite intent, Liya felt a profound sense of both shame and transgressive thrill.
The feeling intensified as she recalled the cries of "Saintess" and the melodious moans she herself had let out the previous night.
You certainly seem more energetic now.
At the same time, Anna stole a glance at a certain someone who was also finding the situation incredibly stimulating.
Heh heh...
*
Eventually, Muen was granted a seat. Under the guise of "supervision," he was placed directly next to Liya, on the left side of the head of the table.
The meeting finally proceeded normally.
"I trust that everyone has reviewed the dossiers on the other attendees before arriving, so we shall not waste time with introductions."
Once the brief storm had settled, Liya entered "Saintess Mode." Her movements were elegant, her speech composed and flawless. Every gesture seemed bathed in a faint, holy light, exuding an air of authority.
Sacred and pure.
She signaled for Lin to distribute the prepared documents.
"Please review this information carefully."
For a while, the only sound in the room was the rustling of paper.
Eventually, the rustling stopped, replaced by low whispers.
Liya scanned the room and asked, "Has anyone noticed anything?"
"This appears to be a summary of recent Evil God corruption incidents?"
Sid, the cold-faced representative of the Iron Casters under the Stone Cauldron Association, raised his metallic arm. His expression was frigid; even during the earlier farce, his face hadn't changed. "What is the specific timeframe?"
"From June of last year to the present."
"Why June?"
"Because that was when our Church's Astral Observatory began detecting a marked increase in Evil God activity."
Liya answered, then turned to Lin. "Lin."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Lin bowed slightly and waved her hand.
Soft light gathered in her palm, eventually forming a massive white screen at the front of the room.
Images, descriptions, and dense clusters of data began to appear one by one.
"Please look," Lin said, opening her file to present to the group.
"These are the most severe incidents related to Evil Gods since last June. We have already filtered out false reports, minor incidents, and the random ravings of cultists. What remains are genuine traces of Evil God activity."
"The most representative among them include... the Cemetery Undead Resurgence, the Loca Town Disappearances, the mass insanity at the Andrea Road Gathering, and..."
Lin paused for a moment.
"...the Lake Bepol fishing village incident."
"The fishing village?"
General Baror visibly started at the name. He cast a subtle glance at Anna beside him.
"I recall that incident occurred within the Leopold Empire. It was highly unusual..."
"Indeed."
Anna dropped her playful smirk, adopting an air of mature gravity.
"It happened within the Empire, right on the outskirts of the capital, Belland. As for why it was unusual... it was a corruption incident that left absolutely no trace."
"No trace?"
The expressions of everyone in the room tightened. They quickly flipped through their documents to the page describing the fishing village incident.
"Yes, no trace. Hundreds of people vanished from the village, yet nothing was left behind except for a single human head. We know it was the work of an Evil God, but we couldn't even identify which one."
"Wait, a head? Why was a single head left behind?"
"That is one of the mysteries. The head was clearly buried intentionally. No Evil God we know of is kind enough to bury the scraps of their meal."
Anna crossed her fingers under her chin and continued.
"The matter was so bizarre that, in a rare move, we sought help from the Holy City. We paid a great price to enlist the Grand Astrologer."
"The Grand Astrologer?"
The room stirred again. The famous Grand Astrologer had been in semi-seclusion for years, rarely involving himself in worldly affairs.
But even the prideful Huogu and Dodge, who stood at the pinnacle of magic, had to admit that the man’s mastery of astrology was unrivaled in this era.
"If he performed a divination, surely he would find a clue, provided an Evil God didn't go out of their way to obscure it."
"Indeed, the Grand Astrologer did divine a piece of information. A piece of information that left everyone baffled."
Anna rubbed her temples with a complex expression. Then, under the watchful eyes of the assembly, she slowly spoke the four words.
"Be. Ware. Of. Blondes."
"Pfft—!"
Before anyone could even process what those words meant, Muen, who had been sipping tea at the head of the table, sprayed the hot liquid everywhere.
Fortunately, Dodge was quick enough to throw up a magical barrier, sparing himself a soaking.
"Is something wrong?" Liya asked, turning to him with concern.
"No, it's nothing..."
Muen pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow, forcing a smile. "Hot. The tea was just too hot."
"Honestly, please be careful, Mr. Muen. We wouldn't want people thinking the Church mistreats its guests."
Liya made a playful joke before turning her full attention back to the meeting.
The others were too deep in the conundrum of those four words to care about Muen's awkwardness.
"Beware of blondes? What does that mean?"
General Baror tapped his fingers on the table. "Is it a physical characteristic of the perpetrator? But 'blonde' is far too broad a trait."
"Exactly," Dodge added, stroking his chin. "Blonde? Muen Campbell sitting across from me has golden hair. Isn't he a blonde? But don't tell me this kid was involved in those incidents."
"..."
Muen offered an awkward but polite smile.
"If we're going by that logic, isn't Her Highness the Saintess, with her pale gold hair, also a blonde?" Huogu sighed. "This information is useless. It only adds to our headaches. There are too many blondes in this world. What are we supposed to do, arrest them all?"
"No, it isn't entirely useless," Anna said.
"At the very least, those four words tell us that a 'person' was involved in the fishing village incident."
"A person? What Evil God incident doesn't involve people..." Baror grunted.
"That's different," Anna said, her lips curling into a mysterious, knowing smile. "An incident caused by a 'person' corrupted by an Evil God is one thing. An incident caused by Evil God corruption that was guided or pushed by a 'person' is an entirely different matter."
"..."
The room went still. Everyone present was an expert in their field; they immediately understood the distinction.
An Evil God finding a crack and spreading corruption was one thing. Actively inviting an Evil God's corruption into this world was another entirely.
The potential for catastrophe was on a different scale. Most evil cultists were merely pathetic wretches who had accidentally fallen into an Evil God's web.
"So, the focus isn't just the fishing village incident," Lin continued, her voice heavy.
"The focus is... what happened afterward. The event whose impact has yet to fade... the Divine War!"
Hiss—
The light on the screen shifted, reflecting the changing expressions of the crowd. The memory of that Divine War was so vivid that even mentioning it now made everyone turn pale.
"Are you saying..."
"Yes. After the Divine War, the Grand Astrologer risked his life to perform another divination."
This time it was Liya who spoke. She struggled to keep her voice steady, speaking with heavy deliberation.
"The result was the same—Beware of blondes!"
"Cough—Cough cough cough!!"
Muen sprayed his tea across the floor again, waving his hands awkwardly. "Sor... sorry. It went down the wrong pipe."
But no one cared about Muen's plight anymore.
Upon hearing those four words, most of the people present were in a state of extreme shock.
Two different events, the same result.
That wasn't all. Everyone there was sharp-witted. If they connected this to the recent surge in Evil God activity that was giving everyone a headache, they arrived at a terrifying possibility.
"Could it be..."
A raspy, aged voice came from the corner. The representative of the Eye of Mystery, usually so composed, finally lost his cool.
"Yes."
Liya leaned forward, her hands pressed against the table, her small face solemn and grave.
"Behind this series of events, there may be a... Mastermind we have yet to discover! And this Mastermind's actions may very well... affect the safety of the entire world!"
"This is a premeditated campaign of destruction. This is a monstrous crime against humanity!"
"Everyone, a major crisis concerning the very survival of our world has arrived!"
Muen: "..."